How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 5
“You need to tell me what the request is for me to decide whether to grant it or not.”
Angelina spoke in a somewhat annoyed tone.
Despite her attitude, she was giving him high marks for his sincerity in removing his hood and showing his face before making the request.
Indeed, when making a request, one should look into the eyes.
However, at her urging, his eyes wavered a bit.
Angelina briefly wondered if her voice had been too cold, but she didn’t bother to correct it.
There was no reason for the person receiving the request to comfort and soothe the person making it.
“I…”
He started to speak but stopped, observing Angelina. He seemed to be gauging her reaction.
But seeing her still indifferent expression, he seemed to make up his mind and opened his lips.
“I need money.”
At those words, one of Angelina’s eyebrows rose.
What? He wasn’t a hero but a beggar?
Only then did Angelina understand why he had been dragging out his words.
It seems his pride as a knight was hurt by having to borrow money.
‘Hmm, that’s understandable.’
Those devoted to the sword had the advantage of being straightforward, but negatively speaking, they were inflexible. So Angelina understood his hesitation.
“How much do you need?”
She asked, taking back the magic pouch she had given to Haley.
Angelina didn’t ask why he needed it in detail, as it seemed like it would hurt the pride he had struggled to overcome.
Instead, she asked a practical question.
Honestly, she wasn’t very curious about why he needed it.
She thought he might be asking for overdue rent, or perhaps to replenish travel expenses.
However, his answer was unexpected.
“I don’t know how much it will be.”
“Huh?”
How could he not know how much he wanted when borrowing money?
“Did you use some kind of loan shark?”
Did he mean he didn’t know how much interest the lender would add?
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then?”
To her question, he gave a rather unexpected answer.
“There’s a family heirloom that has been passed down for generations.”
“Hmm?”
It sounded completely unrelated to money, but Angelina didn’t point this out.
She had always liked antiques and enjoyed hearing related anecdotes, so the word ‘heirloom’ piqued her interest a bit.
She nodded as if to say ‘Go on’, and he continued.
“But due to an unfortunate incident recently, it disappeared.”
“Oh dear.”
There are strange Lupins who steal antiques after all.
T/n: Lupin is the grandson of the fictional gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc. Acknowledged across the globe as the world’s number one thief, Lupin is a master of disguise and deduction, marksmanship, and inventor of numerous handy gadgets.
Having experienced trouble a few times because of such people at the Flaubert Marquis house, Angelina understood his predicament.
“But I recently found out that the heirloom has been put up for auction.”
“I see.”
How frustrating it must have been.
Angelina offered a casual consolation.
“I contacted the auction house to ask for its return, but they said they had no obligation to return it.”
As he spoke, his gaze sharply scanned Angelina. It was as if he was asking, ‘How will you react?’
Of course, Angelina, lost in thought with her arms crossed, didn’t notice this. Only Haley and Laura behind her intensified their fierce aura.
“Indeed, the auction house has no such obligation.”
Angelina spoke calmly.
Regardless of how the item made its way to the auction house, they have no obligation to return an item they legally acquired.
As one of the Flaubert Marquis family’s largest sources of income was art auctions, Angelina roughly knew how these things worked.
After pondering for a moment, she let out a small sigh.
“The only way to get it back would be to win it directly at the auction.”
No matter how much one claimed it was a stolen item, the auction house had no reason to listen.
“So you need money, but don’t know exactly how much, is that right?”
Only then did Angelina understand why this man had asked for money, compromising his knightly image.
If refused, that would be the end of it, but if lucky, he might get help.
Borrowed money can be repaid over time, but once an heirloom is sold, it becomes difficult to trace. Backed into a corner, he had no choice.
“Hmm.”
As Angelina let out a groan of sympathy, he spoke again.
“There’s… one more way, isn’t there?”
“Other than participating in the auction?”
Angelina asked as if she didn’t understand what he meant, and he slightly furrowed his brow. His expression seemed to ask why she was pretending not to know.
“Couldn’t the item be removed from the auction?”
“Huh?”
Angelina made a puzzled sound at his suggestion. Then, belatedly, she let out an “Ah” of realization.
“I see, the heirloom must be in an auction house owned by Flaubert.”
Well, if it’s an auction house in this area, 9 out of 10 are owned by Flaubert, so it’s a natural assumption.
Angelina clicked her tongue at her late realization. But then she shook her head.
“That’s not such an easy thing to do. Given that the auction house refused to return it to you, it seems the procedure has already begun.”
If it had been an item stored in a warehouse, the auction house would have attempted a transaction instead of outright refusal.
They would have said something like, ‘The estimated auction price is this much, we’ll give it to you if you pay this amount.’
But judging by the auction house’s attitude, it was highly likely that the exhibition had already begun.
“But you…”
“Even if I am the sister of the Flaubert family head, that would be crossing the line.”
Angelina, realizing what he meant, cut him off before he could finish speaking.
It seemed he thought she would use her power to extract the heirloom for him, rather than just lending money.
But Angelina couldn’t do that. She had no intention to.
“I understand that you’re very upset and frustrated about losing your heirloom. But the auction house also has principles and procedures to follow, and even as the ‘young lady,’ I should respect that.”
Managing the auction house was her brother’s, the family head’s, domain. So Angelina considered it a clear overreach and had no intention of doing it.
“If we don’t follow the rules we’ve set ourselves, what meaning do they have?”
Of course, even if she crossed the line, her kind and gentle brother would smile and say it was okay, but Angelina wasn’t okay with it.
‘I can’t give my already busy brother more stress.’
This was directly related to the auction house’s reputation. She could never do anything to tarnish the reputation of the auction house, which accounted for the largest share of Flaubert’s revenue after trade.
‘If this were to reduce profits even slightly, it would be embarrassing. No, it can’t happen.’
It wasn’t something she could do even for the sake of spending her remaining life comfortably.
“I… was hasty.”
He showed a retreating attitude at her words. Then he tried to take something out of his possession.
“If I’ve spoken out of turn, I apologize. Actually…”
“No, it’s fine.”
Angelina waved her hand as he slightly bowed his head. Then she turned around.
“Anyway, I could see your desperation. So, guide me.”
“…Pardon?”
He paused as he was taking something out of his inner pocket. And looked at her with confused eyes.
“To the auction house, I mean.”
Angelina said indifferently to him, who looked a bit confused.
“Let’s go take a look at this heirloom of yours.”
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Angelina didn’t particularly enjoy mingling with others.
She pursued an individualistic life, helping within her means but avoiding getting deeply involved.
So honestly, she didn’t want to get deeply involved in the man’s story.
Simply giving some money and leaving was very different from participating in an auction.
However, at the same time, she wasn’t cold-hearted enough to ignore someone openly asking for help.
‘Well, since auctions are conducted anonymously, this much should be fine.’
There was no rule saying that she, a Flaubert, couldn’t participate in a Flaubert-owned auction house.
“Red Boat Auction House, huh.”
Angelina muttered softly as she entered the auction house the man had guided her to.
Flaubert had many auction houses under its control, each with its own characteristics. Some dealt only in sculptures and paintings, others only in antiques over 500 years old.
Among them, Red Boat was themed around ‘uniqueness’.
It was a place that gathered and sold all kinds of rare items without setting a specific genre.
‘I think I heard that it’s difficult to price items because there’s a lot of miscellaneous stuff.’
Angelina remembered Ante mentioning in passing that it was a place that required very meticulous management.
“From here are the items scheduled for sale this week.”
An employee guided Angelina. He didn’t seem to know she was the Flaubert young lady.
That was natural. Due to the nature of auction houses, anonymity was always maintained, and masks had to be worn before entering. Many people even used wigs thoroughly or used transformation magic devices.
Angelina had Haley and Laura change clothes as well.
After all, wearing a mask would be pointless if they were wearing aprons stamped with the Flaubert emblem.
